RIM has oddly been grasping many headlines over the past few days, with the Blackpad and the just announced Blackberry Torch. Today, we’re going to look over these headlines and pick out what’s most important in these two interesting news topics.

The newest Blackberry is here! Even in a world where seemingly all the talk is either about Android or iPhone in the mobile world, everyone seems to forget the real smartphone king, the Blackberry. Today, RIM unveiled the Blackberry Torch (9800). The phone will be available on August 12th and will cost $199 when you activate a 2 year contract with AT&T.

Along with the availability, RIM also announced that the Torch will run Blackberry OS 6 which includes new features such as an improved web browser based on WebKit (much like the browsers on iPhone and Android). NPD Analyst Ross Rubin noted that it “looks like a high-end Palm Pre” in having a touchscreen and slide-out keyboard. Another feature touted by RIM for OS 6 is universal search, something featured in Android and iPhone already. Will the Torch’s new features be enough to stop Blackberry’s iPhone and Android bleeding? Only time will tell, but being on AT&T probably doesn’t help matters much.

Rumors of a possible Blackberry tablet appear to be stronger than ever, this time with the news being that the device will be called the “BlackPad” and will hit store shelves in November.

The report is from Bloomberg and states that RIM is planning to release this tablet this fall and will feature a similar design and feature set of the iPad. Those features being a 9.7″ screen, WiFi, Bluetooth and a way to connect the BlackPad to a Blackberry phone to piggyback off of its 3G data connection.

RIM has been asked to comment by Bloomberg on the new tablet but the company has declined to comment on rumor or speculation. To add fuel to the fire, RIM has registered the domain BlackPad.com. However, it’s been noted that RIM owns thousands of domains so BlackPad could not be the final name for the product.

In the report, Bloomberg states that the device will likely have front-and-back camera for video conferencing and the Blackberry tethering option over WiFi or Bluetooth. Other speculation about the device is what the keyboard would look like, knowing that RIM’s past touch screen offerings have been less than ideal.

In any case, we’ll keep you posted on the latest about this “BlackPad” if it comes to be.

I agree that the Blackpad, the Slate etc are likely to fail and for one reason. Timing. many of them haven’t said even a month of release yet. People don’t like to wait. Even the BP is saying November by which time the schools and students will have grabbed their ipads for textbooks etc. Stanford Med, as an example, is piloting a program to give incoming students ipads for all their former paper stuff. Other schools are following.